Provided by: openafs-client_1.8.10-2.1ubuntu3.4_amd64 
NAME
bos_create - Defines a new process in the BosConfig file and starts it
SYNOPSIS
bos create -server <machine name>
-instance <server process name> -type <server type>
-cmd <command lines>+ [-notifier <notifier program>]
[-cell <cell name>] [-noauth] [-localauth] [-help]
bos c -s <machine name> -i <server process name>
-t <server type> -cm <command lines>+
[-not <notifier program>] [-ce <cell name>] [-noa]
[-l] [-h]
DESCRIPTION
The bos create command creates a server process entry in the /etc/openafs/BosConfig file on the server
machine named by the -server argument, sets the process's status to "Run" in the BosConfig file and in
memory, and starts the process.
A server process's entry in the BosConfig file defines its name, its type, the command that initializes
it, and optionally, the name of a notifier program that runs when the process terminates.
CAUTIONS
A server process entry of type fs as described below will not work with a demand-attach File Server, and
a server process entry of type dafs for a demand-attach File Server will not work with a traditional File
Server. When switching from one File Server implementation to another, remove the existing server process
entry and create a new one. See "EXAMPLES" below for an example of switching from a traditional File
Server to a demand-attach File Server.
OPTIONS
-server <machine name>
Indicates the server machine on which to define and start the new process. Identify the machine by IP
address or its host name (either fully-qualified or abbreviated unambiguously). For details, see
bos(8).
-instance <server process name>
Names the process to define and start. Any name is acceptable, but for the sake of simplicity it is
best to use the last element of the process's binary file pathname (or the instance type for fs and
dafs), and to use the same name on every server machine. The conventional names, as used in all AFS
documentation, are:
buserver
The Backup Server process.
dafs
The process that combines the Demand Attach File Server, Volume Server, Salvageserver and
Salvager processes (dafileserver, davolserver, salvageserver, and dasalvager).
fs The process that combines the File Server, Volume Server, and Salvager processes (fileserver,
volserver, and salvager).
kaserver
The Authentication Server process.
ptserver
The Protection Server process.
upclientbin
The client portion of the Update Server process that retrieves binary files from the
/usr/lib/openafs directory of the binary distribution machine for this machine's CPU/operating
system type. (The name of the binary is upclient, but the "bin" suffix distinguishes this process
from "upclientetc".)
upclientetc
The client portion of the Update Server process that retrieves configuration files from the
/etc/openafs/server directory of the system control machine. (The name of the binary is upclient,
but the "etc" suffix distinguishes this process from "upclientbin".)
upserver
The server portion of the Update Server process.
vlserver
The Volume Location (VL) Server process.
-type <server type>
Specifies the process's type. The acceptable values are:
cron
Use this value for cron-type processes that the BOS Server starts only at a defined daily or
weekly time, rather than whenever it detects that the process has terminated. AFS does not define
any such processes by default, but makes this value available for administrator use. Define the
time for command execution as part of the -cmd argument to the bos create command.
dafs
Use this value only for the dafs process, which combines the File Server, Volume Server, Salvage
Server, and Salvager processes in order to operate as a Demand Attach File Server. If one of the
component processes terminates, the BOS Server shuts down and restarts the process in the
appropriate order.
fs Use this value only for the fs process, which combines the File Server, Volume Server and
Salvager processes. If one of the component processes terminates, the BOS Server shuts down and
restarts the processes in the appropriate order.
simple
Use this value for all processes listed as acceptable values to the -instance argument, except
for the fs and dafs processes. There are no interdependencies between simple processes, so the
BOS Server can stop and start them independently as necessary.
-cmd <command lines>+
Specifies each command the BOS Server runs to start the process. Specify no more than six commands
(which can include the command's options, in which case the entire string is surrounded by double
quotes); any additional commands are ignored.
For a simple process, provide the complete pathname of the process's binary file on the local disk
(for example, /usr/lib/openafs/ptserver for the Protection Server). If including any of the
initialization command's options, surround the entire command in double quotes (""). The upclient
process has a required argument, and the commands for all other processes take optional arguments.
For the fs process, provide the complete pathname of the local disk binary file for each of the
component processes: fileserver, volserver, and salvager, in that order. The standard binary
directory is /usr/lib/openafs. If including any of an initialization command's options, surround the
entire command in double quotes ("").
For the dafs process, provide the complete pathname of the local disk binary file for each of the
component processes: dafileserver, davolserver, salvageserver, and dasalvager, in that order. The
standard binary directory is /usr/lib/openafs. If including any of an initialization command's
options, surround the entire command in double quotes ("").
For a cron process, provide two parameters:
• The complete local disk pathname of either an executable file or a command from one of the AFS
suites (complete with all of the necessary arguments). Surround this parameter with double quotes
("") if it contains spaces.
• A specification of when the BOS Server executes the file or command indicated by the first
parameter. There are three acceptable values:
• The string "now", which directs the BOS Server to execute the file or command immediately and
only once. It is usually simpler to issue the command directly or issue the bos exec command.
• A time of day. The BOS Server executes the file or command daily at the indicated time.
Separate the hours and minutes with a colon (hh:MM), and use either 24-hour format, or a
value in the range from "1:00" through "12:59" with the addition of "am" or "pm". For
example, both "14:30" and "2:30 pm" indicate 2:30 in the afternoon. Surround this parameter
with double quotes ("") if it contains a space.
• A day of the week and time of day, separated by a space and surrounded with double quotes
(""). The BOS Server executes the file or command weekly at the indicated day and time. For
the day, provide either the whole name or the first three letters, all in lowercase letters
("sunday" or "sun", "thursday" or "thu", and so on). For the time, use the same format as
when specifying the time alone.
-notifier <notifier program>
Specifies the complete pathname on the local disk of a program that the BOS Server invokes when the
process terminates. The AFS distribution does not include any notifier programs, but this argument is
available for administrator use. See "NOTES".
-cell <cell name>
Names the cell in which to run the command. Do not combine this argument with the -localauth flag.
For more details, see bos(8).
-noauth
Assigns the unprivileged identity "anonymous" to the issuer. Do not combine this flag with the
-localauth flag. For more details, see bos(8).
-localauth
Constructs a server ticket using a key from the local /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile or
/etc/openafs/server/KeyFileExt file. The bos command interpreter presents the ticket to the BOS
Server during mutual authentication. Do not combine this flag with the -cell or -noauth options. For
more details, see bos(8).
-help
Prints the online help for this command. All other valid options are ignored.
EXAMPLES
The following command defines and starts the simple process "ptserver" on the machine "fs3.example.com":
% bos create -server fs3.example.com -instance ptserver -type simple \
-cmd /usr/lib/openafs/ptserver
The following command defines and starts the simple process "upclientbin" on the machine
"fs4.example.com". It references "fs1.example.com" as the source for updates to binary files, checking
for changes to the /usr/lib/openafs directory every 120 seconds.
% bos create -server fs4.example.com -instance upclientbin -type simple \
-cmd "/usr/lib/openafs/upclient fs1.example.com -clear -t 120 \
/usr/lib/openafs"
The following command creates the fs process "fs" on the machine "fs4.example.com" (a traditional File
Server with associated processes). Type the command on a single line.
% bos create -server fs4.example.com -instance fs -type fs \
-cmd /usr/lib/openafs/fileserver /usr/lib/openafs/volserver \
/usr/lib/openafs/salvager
The following command creates the dafs process "dafs" on the machine "fs4.example.com" (a demand-attach
File Server with associated processes). Type the command on a single line.
% bos create -server fs4.example.com -instance dafs -type dafs \
-cmd /usr/lib/openafs/dafileserver \
/usr/lib/openafs/davolserver \
/usr/lib/openafs/salvageserver /usr/lib/openafs/dasalvager
The following command creates a cron process called "userbackup" on the machine "fs5.example.com", so
that the BOS Server issues the indicated vos backupsys command each day at 3:00 a.m. (the command creates
a backup version of every volume in the file system whose name begins with "user"). Note that the issuer
provides the complete pathname to the vos command, includes the -localauth flag on it, and types the
entire bos create command on one line.
% bos create -server fs5.example.com -instance userbackup -type cron \
-cmd "/usr/lib/openafs/vos backupsys -prefix user -localauth" 03:00
To switch from a traditional File Server to a demand-attach File Server, run:
% bos status localhost -instance fs -long
to see the current fileserver and volserver flags for an existing traditional File Server configuration.
(Substitute the "dafs" instance for an existing demand-attach File Server.) Then, run:
% bos stop localhost fs -localauth
% bos delete localhost fs -localauth
% bos create localhost dafs dafs \
"/usr/lib/openafs/dafileserver <fileserver-flags>" \
"/usr/lib/openafs/davolserver <volserver-flags>" \
/usr/lib/openafs/salvageserver /usr/lib/openafs/dasalvager
replacing <fileserver-flags> and <volserver-flags> with the flags from the previous configuration. This
will stop the traditional File Server and start a demand-attach File Server. The binaries at the paths
provided must already be updated to binaries built with demand-attach enabled.
PRIVILEGE REQUIRED
The issuer must be listed in the /etc/openafs/server/UserList file on the machine named by the -server
argument, or must be logged onto a server machine as the local superuser "root" if the -localauth flag is
included.
The bos create command cannot be run against servers which are in restricted mode.
NOTES
If the -notifier argument is included when this command is used to define and start a process, the BOS
Server invokes the indicated notifier program when the process exits. The intended use of a notifier
program is to inform administrators when a process exits unexpectedly, but it can be used to perform any
appropriate actions. The following paragraphs describe the bnode and bnode_proc structures in which the
BOS Server records information about the exiting process.
The BOS Server constructs and sends on the standard output stream one bnode and one bnode_proc structure
for each exiting process associated with the notifier program. It brackets each structure with
appropriate "BEGIN" and "END" statements ("BEGIN bnode" and "END bnode", "BEGIN bnode_proc" and "END
bnode_proc"), which immediately follow the preceding newline character with no intervening spaces or
other characters. If the notifier program does not need information from a structure, it can scan ahead
in the input stream for the "END" statement.
In general, each field in a structure is a string of ASCII text terminated by the newline character. The
format of the information within a structure possibly varies slightly depending on the type of process
associated with the notifier program.
The C code for the bnode and bnode_proc structures follows. Note that the structures sent by the BOS
Server do not necessarily include all of the fields described here, because some are used only for
internal record keeping. The notifier process must robustly handle the absence of expected fields, as
well as the presence of unexpected fields, on the standard input stream.
For proper performance, the notifier program must continue processing the input stream until it detects
the end-of-file (EOF). The BOS Server closes the standard input file descriptor to the notifier process
when it has completed delivery of the data, and it is the responsibility of the notifier process to
terminate properly.
struct bnode contents:
struct bnode {
struct bnode *next; /* next pointer in top-level's list */
char *name; /* instance name */
long nextTimeout; /* next time this guy should be awakened */
long period; /* period between calls */
long rsTime; /* time we started counting restarts */
long rsCount; /* count of restarts since rsTime */
struct bnode_type *type; /* type object */
struct bnode_ops *ops; /* functions implementing bnode class */
long procStartTime; /* last time a process was started */
long procStarts; /* number of process starts */
long lastAnyExit; /* last time a process exited for any reason */
long lastErrorExit; /* last time a process exited unexpectedly */
long errorCode; /* last exit return code */
long errorSignal; /* last proc terminating signal */
char *lastErrorName; /* name of proc that failed last */
short refCount; /* reference count */
short flags; /* random flags */
char goal; /* 1=running or 0=not running */
char fileGoal; /* same, but to be stored in file */
};
Format of struct bnode explosion:
printf("name: %s\n",tp->name);
printf("rsTime: %ld\n", tp->rsTime);
printf("rsCount: %ld\n", tp->rsCount);
printf("procStartTime: %ld\n", tp->procStartTime);
printf("procStarts: %ld\n", tp->procStarts);
printf("lastAnyExit: %ld\n", tp->lastAnyExit);
printf("lastErrorExit: %ld\n", tp->lastErrorExit);
printf("errorCode: %ld\n", tp->errorCode);
printf("errorSignal: %ld\n", tp->errorSignal);
printf("lastErrorName: %s\n", tp->lastErrorName);
printf("goal: %d\n", tp->goal);
struct bnode_proc contents:
struct bnode_proc {
struct bnode_proc *next; /* next guy in top-level's list */
struct bnode *bnode; /* bnode creating this process */
char *comLine; /* command line used to start this process */
char *coreName; /* optional core file component name */
long pid; /* pid if created */
long lastExit; /* last termination code */
long lastSignal; /* last signal that killed this guy */
long flags; /* flags giving process state */
};
Format of struct bnode_proc explosion:
printf("comLine: %s\n", tp->comLine);
printf("coreName: %s\n", tp->coreName);
printf("pid: %ld\n", tp->pid);
printf("lastExit: %ld\n", tp->lastExit);
printf("lastSignal: %ld\n", tp->lastSignal);
SEE ALSO
BosConfig(5), KeyFile(5), KeyFileExt(5), UserList(5), bos(8), buserver(8), dafileserver(8),
dasalvager(8), davolserver(8), fileserver(8), kaserver(8), ptserver(8), salvager(8), salvageserver(8),
upclient(8), upserver(8), vlserver(8), volserver(8), vos_backupsys(1)
COPYRIGHT
IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.
This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD
by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth
Cassell.
OpenAFS 2025-05-19 BOS_CREATE(8)